Kiko Francisco made a triumphant return to the SEA Games by capturing the gold medal in the extreme skateboarding event at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Friday night at the SAT Extreme Sports Park in Bangkok, Thailand.
It was his second SEA Games gold, having previously topped the park event in 2019 in Tagaytay — the last time skateboarding was featured in the biennial meet.
The 24-year-old Francisco scored a total of 90.68 points in the final, outpacing seven other competitors to claim the top spot on the podium.
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“I can’t believe it, to be honest with you. I can’t believe to be here with the gold medal, and my students here with the gold medal and the silver medal,” said the skateboarding instructor by profession.
“A month and a half ago, I already told the boss that we’re gonna sweep it; I already knew it. And I can’t believe that we did it.”
Francisco’s victory added to another strong showing for the Philippines in skateboarding, as his own young prodigies Mazel Paris Alegado and Elizabeth Amador delivered a 1-2 finish in the women’s division earlier in the day.
“It just shows that we, Filipinos, can do it, and we can be on top. No matter if we have limited resources or not, we can do it, and we can compete with the best,” said the back-to-back champion on what this victory means.
Thailand’s Konwit Ketkaeo (82.43) and Brian Upapong (74.75) took silver and bronze, respectively.
The Carson, California native capped his campaign with a brilliant final run, following a dominant performance in the preliminaries where he led the field with a score of 85.48.
